Monday, July 24, 2017

Retired gladiator and his slave investigate the murder of a money-changer in ancient Rome.

The time period is certainly a change of pace for this author. I enjoyed it, and I think the new series has definite potential, but I'm not looking forward to it quite as much as I am the Kat Holloway series, another new mystery series from the same author. I'll certainly be reading both though!

One thing I noticed though, I don't think time keeping in ancient Rome was as precise as down to the half hour, or even hour. But I liked the characters and the plot, even though it was only a short novella. I normally feel like they don't allow for enough character development, but I am finding that's not the case with this author.

Friday, July 21, 2017

This was a well written and very interesting novel about the ordeal of the historical Mary Rowlandson, who was captured by Native Americans and held captive for nearly 3 months before she was ransomed back to her husband.

Overall, I thought it was a fascinating story and subject matter, told in third person present tense, but my main complaint was that I found it hard to believe Mary would want to stay with the Native Americans after only being with them for 3 months. To be fair, her transformation didn't feel abrupt or rushed in the narrative of the book, but when I realized everything that had happened while she was with the Native Americans happened within 3 months, it didn't feel like enough time had passed for her to change so greatly, unless maybe she was suffering from Stockholm Syndrome (and it didn't seem like that was the author's intention). Particularly because Mary admits that she only had one friend in the entire Native American camp, why would you want to stay in a community where you don't exactly have friends? I understand she ironically enjoyed freedoms as a slave to the Native Americans that she felt couldn't in Puritan society, but also important to psychological health is friendship, and a human connection, which she admitted herself she only found with one person. If you only have one friend in a whole community, wouldn't you feel more like an outcast? Why would you want to stay in such a place? I also understand that she learned to adapt to their culture to survive, and that allowed her to learn and grow as a person, but adapting to a place doesn't necessarily mean that's where you want to remain. Not after only 3 months, anyway.

Regardless, it was a good story and I was constantly wanting to know what would happen next. I myself have ancestors who were attacked and taken hostage by Native Americans, so it allowed me some insight into what they might have experienced.

About Me

I'm a 30-something year old Pennsylvanian who spent eight years in England before moving to Colorado with her British husband.

I love all things history and genealogy, if I'm not researching my genealogy in my spare time, I'm usually reading a historical novel or history book. So it's no surprise I run two blogs, one on genealogy and this one for history-related book reviews.

My reading interests are mostly in American and European history, both fiction and non. I love books that relate to my own family history but also ones which don't, from stories about fictional characters to historical figures and events.